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A Musing from a “Pathetic Empire Simp”

Charles Keener
 

A Musing from a “Pathetic Empire Simp” | Kenn Orphan

That is what I am, apparently. A “pathetic empire simp.” At least according to Australian writer Caitlin Johnstone.
This insult came on Twitter after I criticized her analysis of the Russian war against Ukraine by correctly pointing out that she has never been antiwar, only anti-American-war. Other wars carried out by despotic, authoritarian or imperialistic governments never get criticized in any way by Johnstone except, perhaps, occasionally in what amounts to mealy mouthed mental gymnastics, which generally end up impugning the victims of war crimes as “head-chopping jihadists” or neo-Nazis, while absolving the criminals. This isn’t a lie. A simple check into her exhaustive Twitter feed or “daily writings” demonstrates this.
Johnstone’s observations aren’t in a vacuum. Real flesh and blood human beings are in harms way thanks to Russia’s bombing campaign and invasion of Ukraine. Europe’s largest nuclear power plant is in the crosshairs. Thousands of Russian antiwar activists have been sent to prison for protesting the war, which is not to be called a war but a “military intervention” under threat of prosecution of the Russian Federation.
Johnstone and her ilk represent a particular cynical strain within the erstwhile left, primarily in the US. It is the result of decades of betrayal by American institutions and the ruling, capitalist establishment. Decades of duplicity, corruption, wars of domination, toppling democratic governments, militaristic cruelty, racism, misogyny, classism, exploitation, ecocide and horrendous crimes against humanity.
Kenn Orphan, September 2022
Michael Pugliese <michael.098762001@...>
 

On Caitlin Johnstone , https://www.counterpunch.org/2022/03/11/a-closer-look-at-the-prose-of-caitlin-johnstone/ , who advocated for an alliance with alt-right "journalist," Mike Cernovich,
https://www.counterpunch.org/2017/07/28/enough-nonsense-the-left-does-not-collaborate-with-fascists/ .

"Finally, many on the “radical left” have bizarrely fallen into disseminating the snake oil grifter nonsense of astrologer to the stars Caitlin Johnstone, whose meteoric rise on Medium, Twitter, and RT provides her with mass venues to popularize rightwing political views to naïve and unsuspecting audiences. Johnstone, an Australian pundit with little direct experience and no expertise in U.S. politics, is notorious for claiming to support leftwing political causes, billing herself as anti-war and as opposing mainstream media propaganda, while fusing that rhetoric with attempts to promote collaborations between the left and right. This is seen most egregiously in her sympathetic tweets toward the anti-Semitic conspiracy theorist Alex Jones; her support for the Pizzagate conspiracy (the predecessor to QAnon); her callsfor the left to fight the “deep state” by working with figures like QAnoner Robert David Steele – himself a known collaborator with white supremacist and former Klanner David Duke; her support for forging tactical alliances with “alt-right” neofascists like Mike Cernovich (of the “white genocide”-lamenting variety); and her suggestion that the January 6 neofascist insurrection may have been planned by the U.S. government. Johnstone’s impact on the left is hard to ignore, with her tweets and writings being routinely reposted by legions of self-identifying leftists who seem to believe that her writings are compatible with their efforts at promoting radical political change."

Via https://www.counterpunch.org/2021/07/30/rise-of-the-right-how-the-vaudeville-left-fuels-white-supremacy/

In common with other polemicists of her ilk as noted in that first Counterpunch piece , she invokes Zbig Brzezinski and Afghanistan, doubtless never having read a single academic source such as , Conner Tobin.  “The Myth of the ‘Afghan Trap’:  Zbigniew Brzezinski and Afghanistan, 1978-1979.”  Diplomatic History 44:2 (April 2020):  237-64. https://sci-hub.se/https://doi.org/10.1093/dh/dhz065 . 
Michael Pugliese
Avram Rips
 

I suspect the impact of the "left" from her and the clowns at Greyzone and other  is great as they post why the bombing in Maruipol didn't happen ,or the Ukrainians did it or false flag operation.

On Thu, Sep 8, 2022 at 12:55 PM Michael Pugliese <michael.098762001@...> wrote:
On Caitlin Johnstone , https://www.counterpunch.org/2022/03/11/a-closer-look-at-the-prose-of-caitlin-johnstone/ , who advocated for an alliance with alt-right "journalist," Mike Cernovich,
https://www.counterpunch.org/2017/07/28/enough-nonsense-the-left-does-not-collaborate-with-fascists/ .

"Finally, many on the “radical left” have bizarrely fallen into disseminating the snake oil grifter nonsense of astrologer to the stars Caitlin Johnstone, whose meteoric rise on Medium, Twitter, and RT provides her with mass venues to popularize rightwing political views to naïve and unsuspecting audiences. Johnstone, an Australian pundit with little direct experience and no expertise in U.S. politics, is notorious for claiming to support leftwing political causes, billing herself as anti-war and as opposing mainstream media propaganda, while fusing that rhetoric with attempts to promote collaborations between the left and right. This is seen most egregiously in her sympathetic tweets toward the anti-Semitic conspiracy theorist Alex Jones; her support for the Pizzagate conspiracy (the predecessor to QAnon); her callsfor the left to fight the “deep state” by working with figures like QAnoner Robert David Steele – himself a known collaborator with white supremacist and former Klanner David Duke; her support for forging tactical alliances with “alt-right” neofascists like Mike Cernovich (of the “white genocide”-lamenting variety); and her suggestion that the January 6 neofascist insurrection may have been planned by the U.S. government. Johnstone’s impact on the left is hard to ignore, with her tweets and writings being routinely reposted by legions of self-identifying leftists who seem to believe that her writings are compatible with their efforts at promoting radical political change."

Via https://www.counterpunch.org/2021/07/30/rise-of-the-right-how-the-vaudeville-left-fuels-white-supremacy/

In common with other polemicists of her ilk as noted in that first Counterpunch piece , she invokes Zbig Brzezinski and Afghanistan, doubtless never having read a single academic source such as , Conner Tobin.  “The Myth of the ‘Afghan Trap’:  Zbigniew Brzezinski and Afghanistan, 1978-1979.”  Diplomatic History 44:2 (April 2020):  237-64. https://sci-hub.se/https://doi.org/10.1093/dh/dhz065 . 
Michael Pugliese
Michael Pugliese <michael.098762001@...>
 

On Thu, Sep 8, 2022 at 10:01 AM Avram Rips <mltbarips@...> wrote:
I suspect the impact of the "left" from her and the clowns at Greyzone and other  is great as they post why the bombing in Maruipol didn't happen ,or the Ukrainians did it or false flag operation.

According to a Twitter thread by Neil Abrams:

March 22, 2022 OK, so @MaxBlumenthal  of @TheGrayzoneNews  recently published an article claiming that Russia’s bombing of a Mariupol theater was actually a false-flag operation carried out by Ukraine’s Azov Battalion. Reader, this is one dishonest article, and I’m about to show you why. Thread: The bombing occurred a week ago. Locals, in an attempt to dissuade Russia from attacking it, had written “children” on the ground outside in letters so big they could be seen from space satellites. But was it really a false-flag operation by Ukrainian forces?  Let’s dig in. […] So that’s it for the substance of the article. In short, it’s a mess of unsupported assertions, a couple bits of evidence that *would* support his claims if they weren’t totally unreliable, and a bunch of other stuff that’s impossible to verify and totally irrelevant in any event.

Read the full thread here. https://twitter.com/neil_abrams/status/1506394055672213505
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